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Ladies and Gentlemen, here is a rather heart wrenching look into one of our favorite ships. But so it for a great and rather old titan. It is however an interesting look into the guts and under-skin of her. Here's hoping that they can get things taken care of.

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I remember visiting this ship on a school trip to England something like 25 years ago, hope they will take care of it so in 25 years from now people could still do the same and be impressed by this ship as i was back then.

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Yeah, the history of the USS Constitution nearly sinking at the dock are quite horrific. In actuality, what keeps the timbers from rotting quickly is from seawater as the salt dehydrates most of the fungus and bacteria from decaying the wood (which is the same reason why we used to salt meat) which is one of the saving graces that allowed Constitution to survive with neglect for so long (and children penny donations). It's quite impressive that the wood in her keel is over 200 years old and still afloat.

I guess that's the flaw that they are having for dry-docking the Victory. From a brief search she was dry docked in 1922, and how they are saying that the 30 year old timbers are the ones that are rotting means that those timbers have not tasted any of that preserving sea salt...

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Btw, the method used to preserve the remains of the Mary Rose (which is right next to the Victory in Portsmouth) is interesting. They spent years soaking the timbers in a glycol solution, and I believe she is still being sprayed. Of course she was preserved as sunk, and the Victory is dry, so different preservation techniques would/wood apply.

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Might be time to build her into a glass greenhouse with holes for the masts.

Although that would be a shame.

That would be a terrible, terrible shame. Ships are built to sail as aircraft are built to fly & cars built to be driven. While I cringe at the risk of losing/damaging such a important historical(& beautiful) artifact, sailing, if even for a short distance, is what she was meant to do.

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Any wooden component of any structure will eventually fail, especially if open to any of the elements. Even with the latest anti fungal, water repellant treatment etc every piece of wood will have a life expectancy.

Whichever body is responsible for maintaining her, has to factor this in to their short and long term plans for both restoration and damage limitation. (This equals funding and suitable experts involved in her care)

I visited HMS Victory a few years ago during a vist to the south coast, being a self confessed naval enthusiast I was in my element. I was surprised to find my entry fee to the dock did not include a tour of the Victory the cost of which was almost double entry to the museum dock. I loved it, my kids were bored silly.

With the popularity of the film "Pirates of the Caribbean" and the recently past "Bicentenary of Trafalgar" I feel much could be done to create a far more pupular venue for tourists and enthusiasts of all ages.

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The HMS Victory is one truly amazing ship. Shes been around for hundreds of years has survived countless battles during the days of the empire. Even when she was brought back to port her problems werent over she was rammed by a destroyer. She had to survive WW2 Bombing raids by the germans and now shes slowly rotting away dam that ship has been through a lot I hope they can save her.

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The Mary Rose is right next to it and you would have to be stupid not to go in. It has a fantastic museum with a huge range or artefacts they recovered. It's currently in the drying process and they estimate it will be finished in 2017. I'll be going again once it is.

You can easily spend a whole day there because there's lots more than just those two.

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It's good news that the modern timbers are the ones rotting, and that rainwater through the deck is the cause. Modern timber is replaceable, and it's easier to caulk a deck than shore up the structural timbers of the underwater hull.